WDBJ7 Archive Revisits Lakeside Amusement Park Ahead of Closure Anniversary

Roanoke Lynchburg, VA, October 18, 2026 —

The WDBJ7 Archive is revisiting Lakeside Amusement Park in Salem, Roanoke Valley, as the park’s closure anniversary approaches. Lakeside shut down on October 19, 1986, marking 40 years since its closure in 2026.

The park operated for more than 60 years and was a significant local attraction, according to the information provided about the archive feature. Its shutdown followed declining attendance and other challenges. The specific nature of those challenges, and how they affected the park’s operations, was not provided.

The anniversary offers a moment to look back at a long-running amusement park in the Roanoke Valley. However, details about the archive’s coverage—including which parts of the park’s history it revisits, whether it includes interviews, and what materials it features—were not provided. No further information was supplied about the park’s opening date, its attractions, its ownership or the circumstances surrounding its final day.

The available account links Lakeside’s closure to declining attendance and challenges but does not provide figures, a more detailed timeline or additional causes. It also does not describe what happened to the site after the park closed. Those details remain unspecified in the information accompanying the anniversary mention.

The WDBJ7 Archive’s revisit places the park’s more than six decades of operation and its October 19, 1986, closure at the center of the anniversary. Beyond those details, the scope and content of the retrospective were not stated.

Story summarized from the original created by Joe Dashiell on www.wdbj7.com, see more information here.

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